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AN EULOOY 



I 

LIFE AND SERVICES 



PRESIDENT LIICOLN, 



PROXOUNCKD BEFORE THE OITI/ENS OV 



POULTNEY ANr> VIOHSTITY, 



April 19tli, 1865. 



BY HENRY CI.ARK, ESQ. 



RUTLAND t 
TUTTLE, GAY & COMPAIST. 

1865. 



/?• 



AN EULOGY 

ON THE 

LIFE AND SERVICES 

OF 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 

PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE CIITIZENS OF 

POULTNEY AND VICHSTITY, 
April 19tli, 1865. 

M HENRY CLARK, ESQ. 

n 



RUTLAND : 

TUTTLE, GAY & COMPANY. 

1865. 



CORRESPONDElSrOIi:. ,C s^s 



PouLTNEY, April 21, 1865. 
Henry Clark, Esq., 

Dear Sir : 

The undersigneiJ having been much gratified in listening 
to the Eulogy upon the Life and Character of onr late President, and 
believing that many of the citizens of this town and neighborhood as weli 
as ourselves, would gladly keep so just and faithful an account of him~ 
who had made himself so widely known, and so well beloved, unite in 
requesting a copy of it for publication. 

JOHN GOADBY, 
KALPH RICHABDS, 
JOHN NEWMAN, 

D. DWIGHT COLE, 
JOHN JAY JOSLIN, 
WM. H. POOR, 

E. H. GIBSON. 



PouLTNEY, April 22, 1865. 
Key. JohnGoadbYjD. D., Hon. Ralph Richards, Rev. John Newman, 
D. D., and Others, 
Sirs : 

Your kind note of the 21st, requesting for publication 
my Address upon the Life and Character of President Lincoln is received. 
Prepared at the request of my fellow citizens, I cannot refuse to submit it 
t© you, although written in great haste. I herewith hand you the manu- 
script. 

Most Respectfully, 

Your Ob't Servent, 

HENRY CLARK. 

Note. — The Address was repeated at Middletown May 1st, and at 
Wells, June 1st, at the request of the citizens of those towns. 



EULOGY 



Felloat Citizens • 

I am sincerely and deeply sensible how 
unfitted I am for meeting the demands of such an hour, or of 
doing justice to an event which has hardly left a loyal "heart 
unmoved, or a loyal eye unmoistened in oiu- whole country, 
and made us a nation of mourners. 

It is no common task you have assigned me. It is no com- 
mon event which has assembled u^ together. No joyous cere- 
monial — no inaugural fete, which has this day gathered you 
within these walls. -The emblems of woe are around us ; a 
nation is clad in the habiliments of mourning, and the voice of 
wailing and lamentation is heard upon every breeze. The 
head of this Republic — the elect of the people — the idol of a 
nation's hopes, so recently called for the second time to pre- 
side over the destinies of our beloved country, the Patriot 
— the President has fallen by the hand of an assassin. 
The illustrious man who but yesterday, on the steps of the 
Federal Capitol, under the shadow of our National banner — 
and in the presence of assembled thousands from all parts of 
the land, pronounced the solemn vow of fidelity to the Con- 
stitution, and invoked the Ruler of the Universe to attest the 
sincerity of the pledge which he then gave, has been compelled 
by a murderers hand to lay down the high commission 'with 
which he was invested. The tongue which was then eloquent 
of truth is now mute forever, even while its last echoes are yet 
lingering upon the ear ; the eye which then kindled with the 
inspiration of an exalted patriotism is already sealed in eternal 
sleep ; and the heart which then throbbed with the deepest 
anxiety for a nation's welfare is forever at rest. 



Cold indeed must be the heart of him, who casting his 
thoughts back but a few days, can look unmoved upon the 
scene which is passing before us, and dead the mind that could 
fail to learn from it the solemn and impressive lessons it is so 
well calculated to impart. How overwhelming to us all is the 
literal reality of this event ? We feel almost that we are in 
the presence of the dead — that we can reach forth and touch 
the temple of that once proud spirit — that we can feel its pul- 
sations depart, and catch the last flickerings of that " light of 
life " which had burned so brightly ? We see the sable gar- 
ment of the widow and the orphan ! We witness the tears as 
they course down the maniy cheeks of his cabinet ministers as 
they stood in awe and sorrow around that dying bed. 

The grief with which the heart of the nation has throbbed 
with so much intensity, has been thrown out to every extreme, 
— and back again has each pulsation been returned, to remind 
us that in those extremes, every ennobling sensibility is alive 
to the nation's loss. The press with its thousand tongues, 
speaking from amidst its garbs of mourning — the pulpit with 
its sacred and admonitory voice — the church bell with its 
solemn tones, have all borne testimony to the scenes which 
have been passing in our country — and give assurance that we 
are not here in vain to add our humble but sincere tribute of 
respect to the memory of the departed Patriot and States- 
man. 

Let us endeavor to make good this hour of meeting and 
store away some gems of memory, which we may cast ere we 
depart, into the casket of a nation's grief ! 
\ Our purpose though sad is high^pure, holy. The noblest 
emotions of the human heart have brought us together. We 
are here to add our voice of mourning to that which has gone 
up from every section of the country for the loss of one who, 
while living, gave to his country the service of an honest, a 
devoted and patriotic heart, and dying hath bequeathed to it, 
a character of integrity and honor and a fame upon which the 
world will dwell with admiration aud delight, through suc- 
ceeding ages. 



The great historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman 
^Empire, in referring to the reign of one of the Antonines — ^ 
declared " It was marked by the rare advantage of furnishing 
few materials for history, which is indeed, little more than the 
register of the crimes, the follies, and the misfortunes of man- 
kind." 

However true this dark picture may have been, Avhen applied 
to the history even of the wisest and best of those who have 
been immortalized by the pen of Gibbons' *genius, yet we can 
point with confi'lence and pride to the life of a republican 
Patriot and President as adding a brighter and purer page to ' 
history. 

A rapid review of such a life must be at all times interest- 
ing, and it certainly cannot be otherwise than appropriate to 
this occasion. 

Abraham Lincoln was born on the 12th day of February, 
1807, in Harden County, Kentucky. His father, Thomas 
Lincoln, was in humhle circumstances, and finding life in a 
Southern State affording him no prospect for success, and only 
offering for his chihlren a hopeless struggle with the more for- 
tunate, and feeling keenly the disadvantages growing out of 
his own lack of education, desired to give his son "better facili- 
ties for learning than he had enjoyed. When his son was but 
eight years old, he removed to a new home in Spencer County, 
Indiana. Here aided by his young son, in the wilds of a 
western free state, he erected a log cabin. At this place, 
Abraham passed the next 12 years of his life. Before his 
mother's death, which occurred when he was 10 years old, 
she assisted him in learning to read. Soon he learned to write 
and was considered a prodigy, when he wrote to an old friend 
of his mother's, a traveling preacher, and begged him to come 
■and preach a sermon over his mother's grave. Three months 
after, it is said Parson Elkins came — the friends assembled, 
a year after her death; to pay a last tribute of respect to the 
one he loved so well. A year or two afterward he attended 
a school kept by a Mr. Crawford, one of the settlers. His pro- 
gress was rapid, and by faithfulness and perseverance won the 



6 

interest and esteem of his teacher. A book -^yas a rarity m 
the settlement, but by diligent search among the inhabitants^ 
he succeeded in finding a few volumes, and became thoroughly 
conversant -with Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Esop's Fables, 
a Life of Patrick Henry, and Weem's Life of Washington. 
An incident is related by his old friend and instructor, having 
loaned him a copy of Ramsey's Life of Washington. He read 
it at his leisure — one night he laid it down carefully, as he 
thought. The next morning he found it nearly ruined. The 
storm had beaten through the log house, and the appearance 
of the book was soiled. He went directly to Mr. Crawford, 
and pointed out to him the serious injury, and frankly, 
honestly told him he had no money to repay him, and offered 
to work for him until he was satisfied. He accepted the offer, 
and gave Abraham the book for his own for three days' labor 
in steadily puUing fodder. This incident was an early evi- 
dence of the honor and integrity which was a rulmg principle 
in his whole life. 

His means of education being necessarily limited, he directed 
his mind to the study of the practical and useful, rather than 
ornamental. 

Although no incidents of the youth of Mr. Lincoln are 
related illustrating the precociousness of intellect or giving any 
glittering promise of the high distinction which he in after life 
attained, yet there was an early development of those qual- 
ities of mind and heart, which are sure guarantees of useful- 
ness and success. An ardent temperament, a manly inde- 
pendence, untiring energy and firmness of purpose,, coupled 
with modest demeanor, characterized the youth and constituted 
the broad and strong foundation, upon which was built that 
monument of fame which promises to endure so long as great 
deeds, generous impulses, and noble daring are admired and 
celebrated among men. 

In 1830, his father removed to Decatur, 111. Mr. Lincoln 
had now attained his majority, and was at liberty to begin an 
independent life, but refused to assume his freedom until he 
had given aid to his father in breaking ground for the corn, 



and making a rail fence around the farm. From this latter 
incident was derived the name often applied to him, which has 
passed into song and story wdiich is familiar to all. 

In 1832, at the breaking out of the Black Hawk war, we 
find him the Captain of a Militia Company, and it is said of 
him, " He was an efficient, faithful officer, watchful of his 
men, and prompt in the discharge of duty, and his courage 
and patriotism shrank from no dangers or hardships." After 
his military life was passed, we find him running for the Leg- 
islature, though defeated. In the mean time, we find him a 
Merchant, Postmaster, and Surveyor. 

In 183:1, his political life commenced, having been elected 
<a member of the Legislature of Illinois. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1836, and commenced the practice of law at Spring- 
field, in partnership with the Hon. John T. Stuart. Mr. Lin- 
coln was three times elected to the Legislature, and here com- 
menced his political acquaintance with the late Stephen A. 
Douglas. He then remained six years in private life, devoting 
himself entirely to his profession, displaying remarkable ability 
and gaining an enviable reputation. 

In 1847, he was elected to Congrsss and was the only rep*- 
resentative of his party from Illinois, which then had seven 
members in Congress. The Congress of which Mr. Lincoln 
was a member, had under consideration questions of great 
importance to the country. The Mexican war was then in 
progress and many grave questions arising out of it were under 
discussion. The irrepressible slavery conflict was there also. 
The right of petition in reference to the District of Columbia ^ 
and the territories. 

Many will recollect that in the Senatorial contest of 1858, 
Judge Douglas, sharply, and clearly charged him with hav- 
ing been opposed to the Mexican war, and taking side with 
the common enemy against his country. 

Mr. Lincoln replied to the charge, saying, " I was an old 
whig, and whenever the Democratic party tried to get me to 
vote that the war had been righteously begun by the President, 
I would not do it. But whenever they asked for any money 



or land-wartants, or anything to pay the soldiers there during 
all that time, I gave the same vote that Judge Douglass did." 
Mr. Douglass never renewed the charge afterwards, for he 
knew that this explicit denied by Mr. Lincoln carried its 
weight with the people, and no one questioned his statement 
thus made. 

While in Congress he took his stand against slavery. A 
resolution was introduced into the House of Representatives 
for a Committee to report a bill abolishing the Slave trade in 
the District of Columbia. Mr Lincoln moved an amendment 
to the resolution, instructing them to introduce a bill for the 
abolition, not of the Slave trade only, but of Slavery within 
the District. He voted more than forty times, as he said, in 
favor of the Wilmot Proviso, in whatever form it came up, 
and placed his name on record as a constant and earnest oppo- 
nent of the aggressions of Slavery. In 1848, Mr. Lincoln was 
a member of the National Convention that nominated General 
Taylor for the Presidency, and canvassed Illinois in his favor. 
In 1849, he was for the first time a candidate for the the 
United States Senate, but without success. In 1854, the 
famous Nebaska bill was passed. The political campaign of 
that year in Illinois, was one of the severest ever known, and 
was intensified by the fact that a United States Senator was 
to be elected by the Legislature, then to be chosen. Mr. 
Lincoln took a prominent part in the campaign, but with- 
drew himself as a candidate for Senator, securing the 
votes of his friends for Judge Trumbell, who was elected 
over Mr. Shields. In this canvass he met Mr. Doug- 
lass before the people on two occasions only, and it was 
on one of them that Mr. Lincoln made his memorable 
argument in reference to the doctrine of Squatter Sever 
eignty, in which the following positive and conclusive sentences 
occur : 

" My distinguished friend says it is an insult to the emi- 
grants of Kansas and Nebraska, to suppose that they are not 
able to govern themselves. I admit that the emigrant to 
Kansas and Nebraska is competent to govern himself, hut I 



9 

deny Ms right to govern any other person 7vithout that p>ersons^ 
consent.'' " 

At the first i^ational Convention of the Republican party 
at Philadelphia, in 1856, at which John C. Fremont was nom- 
inated for the Presidency, having during the time when the 
vexed questions of Kansas and Nebraska, occupied the public 
attention, been true to his record, and as he had opportunity 
opposed his plain good sense and honest speech to the argu- 
ments of his opponents, received 111 votes for the Vice Pres- 
idency. 

We now approach those memorable debates between him 
and Stephen A. Douglass — debates in which the mental 
characteristics of the two statesmen were brought out and dis- 
played to the best advantage. The reader of the debates, 
although he be a political opponent, cannot fail to have seen 
that clear perception, strc-ng good sense and unwavering truth, 
marked all of Mr. Lmcoln's arguments. 

Mr. Lincoln addressed a letter to Mr. Douglass, challeng- 
ing him to a series of debates during the campaign. The 
challenge was accepted, and seven joint debates were held. 
They were scattered over all sections of the State, from the 
north to the extreiue south. The greatest excitement pre- 
vailed. The different parties turned out to do honor to their 
champions. Processions, cavalcades, bands of music, the roar 
of cannon made every day a day of excitement, at times even 
assuming the wildest form. No intellectual contest on this 
continent has ever been watched from one section to another, 
with such deep interest, and never before were political debates 
so generally and widely read as were these, with the exception 
0^ those between Webster and Hayne in 1882. I well 
remember the contest, and although at the time a friend 
and partizan of Judge Douglass, the abihty displayed 
by Mr Lincoln was not unobserved, and many commeK= 
dations were awarded him by those who were his political 
opponents. 

At the first discussion held at Ottawa, Mr. Douglass used 
the expression that, " He did not care whether Slavery was 



10 

Voted up or down." We cannot refrain from quoting the 
close of Mr, Lincoln's speech in reply. He says : 

" Henry Clay is my beau ideal of a statesman — the man 
for whom I fought all my humble life once said of a class of 
men who would repress all tendencies to liberty and ultimate 
emancipation, that they must if they would do this, go back to 
the era of our independence — -and muzzle the cannon which 
thunders its annual joyous return ; they must blow out the moral 
lights around us ; they must penetrate the human soul and 
eradicate there the t;:'ue love of liberty ; and then and not till 
then could they perpetuate Slavery in this country." 

" To my thinking when Judge Douglass says, " he cares 
not whether Slavery is voted up or down," that it is a sacred 
right of self-government, he is in my judgment penetrating the 
human soul and eradicating the light of reason, and the love 
of liberty in this American people." 

We have perhaps pursued these debates as far as the 
proprieties of the present occasion admit, and we leave them 
as they have passed into history and are familiar to alU 

When the National Convention of the Republican party 
assembled at Chicago, in May 1860, it was supposed the dis-' 
tinguished statesman of New York, VVilliam H. Seward, would 
be nominated for the Presidency. The attendance from all 
parts of the country was immense, and it soon became evident 
that the contest lay between Mr, Seward and Mr. Lincoln. 
We all remember the result of the contest. The first ballot 
gave Mr. Seward 173 1-2 votes to 102 for Mr. Lincoln. On 
the second ballot, the first indication of the final result was 
made known, when the chairman of the Vermont delega- 
tion, which had been divided on the previous ballot, announced, 
when the name of Vermont was called, that " Vermont gave 
her 10 votes for the young giant of the West, xlbraham Lincoln. 
On the third ballot, Mr, Lincoln received the nomination amid 
the wildest enthusiasm. On the motion of the Hon. Wm. M. 
Evarts of New York, a friend of Mr. Seward, the nomination 
was made unanimous. 

It is unnecessary for me to review the progress of the can- 



11 

Vass until his triumphant election as President of the ITnitect 
States — as his history from that period to the fatal day Avhen 
he fell by the foul shot of the assassin, is as familiar as house- 
hold words. We firmly believe the loyal people of all parties 
look back with satisfaction upon the vote that made Mr. Lin- 
coln President of the United States in 18G0,— althouo;h our 
country has passed through a sea of blood, and the National 
debt has swollen to millions, yet the compensation is ample, for 
it settled the issue of that great conflict between freedom and 
Slavery. 

Time would fail me to present to you the transactions that 
took place from the election of Mr. Lincoln, to his inaugera-" 
tion, or to characterize in proper language the acts of the 
wretched administration during that period, of the man who 
deliberately informed the Congress of the United States that 
they had no power to carry on war against any State, either 
to prevent a threatened violation of the Constitution or enforce 
the acknowledgement that the Government of the United 
States was supreme, and yet it is not strange perhaps that a 
President, who would keep as his prime ministers open traitors 
to the Government, should express such sentiments. The 
time between the assembling of Congress and the 4th of March, 
is fraught with great events in the history of the Government. 
All tenders of conciliation that could in honor be made by 
loyal men towards the South were offered, but of no avail. 
Mr. Lincoln entered upon his duties as Chief Magistrate of 
a distracted Republic. Sumter was fired upon. The North 
was aroused, and as one man they resolved to sustain the Gov- 
ernment, and the Constitutionally elected President. Our 
fellow citizens rushed forward to the defence of Washington. 
Let us not forget that this is the anniversary of that bloody 
19th of April — when the first blood of the Revolution was 
spilled at Concord, also of the day when traitors fired upon 
Massachusetts soldiers in the city of Baltimore. That this is 
the day upon which the first blood was spilled in defence of 
the Government, also in the second Revolution for freedom 
and human rights on these western shores. At this hour in 



12 

one of the cities of the honored old commonwealth of Mas- 
sachusetts a monument is being raised to perpetuate the names 
and memory of the first martyrs that were sacrificed by this 
rebellion upon their country's altar, in defence of human 
liberty, and sad indeed is the spectacle, this day witnessed. 
The mournful procession that bears to the tomb all that was 
mortal of the Chief Magistrate of the nation they died to save. 
Sad as is the parallel, yet there is joy mingled ,with our sor- 
row ; these martyr heroes are at rest — tke Chief lies low, but 
freedom marches on, and human liberty is vindicated. The 
shouts and hosannahs of a long enslaved race make the air 
resonant with the praises of liberty to the captive, and thank 
God, free principles, free soil, and free men, are now the 
heritage of the American Republic, and constitute a grander 
monument to these martyrs than any monumental pile that 
records the name, the deeds, the death of any monarch that 
ever walked the earth. 

The acts of Mr. Lincoln as President have ever been con- 
sistent with the principles enunciated in his first Inaugural 
Address. He has never faltered, but marched steadily on 
keeping step to the music of human freedom, having full in 
view the emancipation of his country from armed traitors, and 
higher, holier than all, the disenthrallment of an enslaved race 
from the shackles of human Slavery. 

I should weary your patience were I to attempt to give even 
an outline of the administration of President Lincoln, for all 
the people have read, understood, and recorded in their 
hearts the good deeds, the free principles and the official acts 
of the late Chief Magistrate, No one needs to rehearse them 
in the presence of an assembly of intelligent American citizens 
— they would fall upon the ear as a twice told tale. It is 
sufficient to say that the highest honor any man on earth could 
court Avas accorded to him, for it was reserved for Mr. 
Lincoln in the ordering of a wise Providence in this 19th cen- 
tury to proclaim freedom to four millions of human beings in 
bondage. 

To Washington was accorded the honor of being the Father of 



his Country, and releasing our Fathers from the yoke of British 
tyranny ; to Abraham Lincohi will be awarded the honor of 
being the Saviour of his Country, and having driven Slavery 
from this western continent. 

As we conclude the review of his public and official acts, 
and pass to some of those qualities which ennobled his heart, 
it is not too much to say of Abraham Lincoln that he possessed 
the confidence of the people to a higher degree perhaps, than 
any individual living.. It is equally true that to his experience, 
tried integrity, and exalted patriotism, they looked for de- 
liverance from the many embarrassments that surrounded 
them. They had the assurance in his past hfe of inflexible 
honesty and upright intention. Whether his administration 
o: afiairs in the future, would have reaUsed in all respects the 
high wrought expectations of the people who had garnered up 
their hopes in him, is not the question. It is sufficient to know 
that the people trusted him. 

Having thus dehneated as time and courtesies of the occa- 
sion would permit, it remains to gather from the varied picture 
his life presents a few of the leading traits which mark the 
individual man. 

His humanity and tender regard for all — his generosity, 
disinterestedness and utter disregard of self. His heart was 
the dwelling place of none but gentle affections. He treasured 
up no dark remembrance of wrong. He carried with him into 
his high office no feeling of personal unkindness, even toward 
those who warred most bitterly against him. This trait was 
beautifully illustrated in his joint debates with Judge Douglass 
in 1858. In their tour through the State, they travelled in 
the same carriage, stopped at the same hotel, occupied the 
same room, addressed the same audience in direct and bitter 
controversy, were companions in leisure hours, and yet not an 
unkind word was uttered to his opponent. He knew how to 
be a bitter political enemy, yet ever a gentleman, and carry 
with him into all circles a kin^ heart. 

I have said nothing as yet of his personal relations to the 
soldiers in the army. He felt the highest regard for all. Rank 



14 

had no consideration with him ; holding the highest office in the 
gift of the people, yet ever recognized the private soldier in 
the street, camp, hospital or field, with no less courtesy than 
him who wore the stars. Many interesting and touching inci- 
dents might be related of his personal services in aiding and 
assisting those who appealed to him in behalf of their friends 
in the army. He was ready to sympathize with those who 
have been bereaved by the great contest in which we have been 
engaged. Is there in this presence to-day a father, mother, 
wife, children, brother or sister who mourns a friend fallen — 
in Mr, Lincoln you had a sympathizing friend. Whether your 
loved ones occupy graves on the field — by the old homestead, 
or find their last resting-place in a Soldier's Cemetery — he 
would lead you, however humble in Ufe your station, to the 
tomb of your loved ones and mingle his tears with yours. 

But who shall make the record of tlie many private virtues 
which surrounded and sanctified his fireside ? Who shall 
relate the noble deeds of charity which difi"used their influence 
around his home ? There is no record kept on earth of the 
sorrows of the humble, and none which can disclose the great 
and unpretending ministry which relieves the wants of the dis- 
tressed ; and well did the unfortunate know the heart which 
was ever open to the cry of distress. The tales which have 
been told in illustration of this beautiful trait of his character 
are many of them so unlike anything we have been accustomed 
to see around us as to have been regarded by many as mere 
fables. Incredible however as they may have seemed, some 
of the most incredible were true. That the same may be said 
of most of them I verily believe, and when we remember that 
one of the very last acts of his life, was one of the purest and 
noblest charity towards one who had stood loyal to the Gov- 
ernment of his fathers and the flag of his country, in the midst 
of the deepest treason, surrounded by the blackest rebels, in 
the most loathed city of the rebellion. 

Immediately after our army had taken possession of Charles- 
ton, the President wrote a letter to the commanding officer, 
directing him to enquire after the family of the late James L. 



15 

Pcttigru, and to provide them with whatever they might need. 
He enclosed fifty dollars as a personal contribution towards 
their wants, if they should be in a condition to require it. 
Special instructions were also given to secure them full pro- 
tection and the quiet occupation of their home. Mr. Pettigru, 
it will be remembered, was. one of the most distinguished law- 
yers of South Carolina, and stood firm and immovable, though 
almost alone, in his devotion to the Union, through all the mad- 
ness of the nullification of 1832, and of secession at a later 
day. Like every other Southern Union man, he was reduced 
to poverty by his course, but his high toned integrity and 
unflinching devotion to principle commanded the respect even 
of his most bitter political foes. This charity was a fitting 
close to Mr. Lincoln's benefactions and the crowning act of a 
noble life. 

I can dwell no longer on the attractive theme of his private 
life. All those high qualities, those rare endowments and 
ennobling virtues have perished with the manly heart around 
which they were so richly clustered, lie has taken his place 
in the national pantheon ; he is enrolled in the list of the illus- 
trious dead. 

But fellow citizens, what shall atc say of the awful cowardly 
deed which brought low our Chief Magistrate. That fatal 
shot was the crowning act of the rebellion, and as the rebellion 
dies it wins its most signal victory. 

By the blow of the assassin — who profits by the unsuspicious 
courage of one of the most generous of men, the rebellion takes 
the life of the only man in this country who could have saved 
the lives of its leaders. This act of cowardice will outlive the 
memory of every other act of the rebellion. It is its most 
fitting memorial. 

Whether with some historians, we consider the great rebel- 
lion as beginning when a cowards' blow struck Mr. Sumner 
down on the floor of the Senate of the United States, or whether 
with others, we count it as beginning when outlaws of Missouri 
were permitted to make ravages on unarmed settlers in the 
wilderness, or whether its birth-day was the day when an army 



16 • 

opened its fire upon a starving company of men which had 
spared them for weeks as they made their open approaches, 
or whether its birth is to be reckoned from the time when its 
leaders swore fidehty to the constitution that they might plun- 
der the nation's treasury and arsenals ; one ruling principle 
has presided in its history from its .birth to its death. In the 
the moment of its death that principle reveals itself most pre- 
cisely in two deeds of the meanest and lowest crimes to which 
no savages now known in history would have descended. 

And as to the methods of the rebellion. Whether its most 
distinguished invention in war were the hanging of un- 
armed citizens, seized in their beds, suspended over the track 
of railways as a lesson to travelers, or the sending of emis- 
saries into the country of its enemies to overturn trains of cars 
and take the lives of women and children and gray haired men 
together, hundreds of miles from the seat of war ; or the firing 
at an hour agreed upon, of the hotels of a great city filled Avith 
travelers from every country who had no concern in warfare ; 
or the burning of ships upon the seas, as the signal to lure 
brave men to their destruction, when they urged all speed on 
their vessels in hopes of saving life ; or the collecting of pris- 
oners of war by thousands, in a prison where they would freeze 
to death in slow but certain tortures ; or the gathering them 
beneath an almost tropical sun in midsummer, and starving 
them in the long madness of delayed death. Whatsoever 
boasts may be made by General Lee the head of the army, or 
Mr. Davis the head of the State, as to their ingenuity in devis- 
ing these modern improvements in warfare for which they are 
responsible, the two crimes of Friday last are still the acts 
which will outlive all in memory. 

Nothing can be more wicked or more base than have been 
all these new methods of modern warfare. But when the ruler 
of a nation is murdered in cold blood, the act is remembered 
as is no other murder ; and the chivalry which kills unarmed 
nurses who are endeavoring to defend a sick man from his 
assassin is especially and typically Southern. We will do 
the rebels the justice to say that their system of warfare em- 



17 

braces many other acts as atrocious. But the station and 
condition of the victims, and the moment selected for the mur- 
ders give these two crimes a preeminence which will make 
them the monument of all. 

To speak of these murderers simply as accomplices of the 
Confederate Government at Danville, we need not produce 
their credentials signed by Mr. Davis. He has been carry- 
ing on war for more than four years in a spirit Avhich is recog- 
nized at once as the inspiration of these crimes. And these 
crimes belong to that outer circle of barbarism which the Con- 
stitution of the Confederate States is pledged to defend. It is 
more than four years since, that a colleague of Jeiferson 
Davis in the the Senate of the United States, said that the 
people of Mississippi would hang a Unit,ed States Senator by 
the way-side, if he* were found in their country. When the 
Confederate States withdrew from such a check as the Federal 
Government had on them, it was to inaugurate in part just 
such a system of murder to their political opponents as had 
been proclaimed. The murder of the loyalist of Tennessee, 
was only one example of such crimes. The murder of the 
President is another. The Tennessee murders, the crime for 
which Bejil was hanged — the I'Tcav York fires — the atrocities 
of Semmes — the St, Albans raid — the agonies of Belle Isle, 
and the starvation of thousands at Andersonville and Salisbury, 
are tacitly justified by the Rebel Government at the hands of 
whose agents they were wrought. 

Assasshiation is in truth but a part of the system against 
which for these four years we have made war. The war is a 
w^ar of civilization against barbarism. It is the war of a peo- 
ple which cultivates the arts of peace and looks for steady 
improvenent in social order, against a people pledged to resist 
all such improvement, and proud of their skill in the arts of 
bloodshed. When the war begun, the feeling of the country 
was that it was the rebellion of outlaws against civil order. 
The special crime we then thought of them, was treason. 
Treason was justly charged, but it was not our only enemy. 



18 

Leas superficial students soon sslw here was a republic matched 
against an oligarchy — democracy fighting against aristocracy. 
But that statement does not define the contest. As we Avent 
on, the country found that universal freedom was at issue, 
against the right to carry Slavery everywhere. But that was 
not all — we found that we were contending under the system 
by which Christian civilization has instigated warfare against 
those who were proud to acknowledge that they knew no higher 
law than passion. We found that wc were fighting against 
barbarians. The struggle is one of those struggles which 
must come as the world advances now in an arena of blood — 
now in happier conflicts between civilization and barbarism. 

One feature of this barbarism is slavery. But that is only 
one. Another feature is an oligarchy, which oppresses all 
labouring men. One feature is the maintenance of ignorance; 
but that is only one. One feature is the setting of religion 
outside of life as a piece of Sunday ornament. Duelling, 
starvation of the pQor, the oppression of minorities, the 
debasement of women, the imprisonment of strangers, virtual 
isolation from all mankind, are all parts of the separate 
system. But no one then is to be spoken or as if it were the 
only characteristic of the system, or as if it gave to it its 
name. Its name is barbarism. Murder is simply one of its 
traits ; but it is a necessary and essential trait. Through the 
whole rebellion, and long before the rebellion, it was one of 
natural features of the system. It has now found for itself a 
mark sufficiently exalted to draw the attention of the world 
and of history. It is some such tragedy as that of Friday 
last, which makes them rightly estimate the system from 
which such crimes are born. 

There was no necessity for J. Wilkes Booth to cry out sic 
semper tyrannic, the motto of the State of Virginia, as he fled 
from the scene of the murder ; with her credentials or without 
them, no one would have doubted that he repi-csented her 
interest and Avas true to her system. It is in view of succes- 
sive murders of more humble victims or the wholesale of pris- 
oners of war, of incendiary attempts planned by officers, com 
missioned by them — all crimes which the Confederate Gov- 
ernment dare not disown — that it and its sj'stem will be held 
responsible for this central and emblematic crime. 

I trust I shall not trespass upon the proprieties of the occa- 
sion or place, if I call your attention for a moment to him 
upon whom the responsibilities of the Government have so sud- 
denly fallen. 

Andrew Johnson of Tennessee is now President of the United 
States. Like his immediate predecessor, a native of a slave 
State, and of humble parentage, he has risen to high political 



19 

gtatiori by the exhibition of those rare quaUties which ordinarily 
command success in a free country. He has been civil 
Governor of a powerful State — a Representative and Senator 
in Congress, and subsequently Military Governor of Tennessee 
by the appointment of President Lincoln. In all of these he 
has carried himself with ability, and no word has ever been 
uttered against his personal integrity. He has had the 
confidence of the present administration during the war, and 
while numerous other Military Governors have so conducted 
their business affairs as to disappoint the appointing power, 
and to render their removal necessary, Mr. Johnson has 
always stood Avell and has given entire satisfaction to those in 
authority, although his position was in some respects more 
difficult than that of any man in a similar official station. There 
can be no doubt he is an able man, thoroughly loyal, fearless in 
the perlormance of duty — and standing high in the confidence 
of those who know him best, we are not unmindful of the fact 
that Mr. Johnson has recently, in a measure, lost the public 
confidence, and in common with the whole country, we 
deplored the exhibition of a weakness which was so injurious 
to our nation in the eyes of the civilized world. But there is 
good reason to believe that this was an exceptional instance 
of a failing w'hich w^as regretted by none more than the 
Vice-President himself ; and surely the history of memorable 
public services is not to be forgotten in the errors of a single 
day — nor a life-long character for honorable and successful 
exertions, to be fatally tarnished by the momentary fault of an 
hour. 

Of one trait in the character of our President, we may be 
perfectly assured, and that is of his uncompromising loyalty and 
his unalterable determination to maintain the Constitution and 
enforce the laws. Nor are his opinions of recent date. A 
personal friend and great admirer of Andrew' Jackson, he is of 
that old school of Democratic politicians, who believe in the 
Constitution and the Union, and in the use of all the necessary 
means to protect and preserve them. In the last days of Mr. 
Buchanan's wretched administration, he took a firm and manly 
stand, for the right, and in the memorable debate of March 2, 
1861, on the report of the Peace Conference, Mr. Johnson 
denounced with remarkable energy and marked ability, the 
projected treason by the whole crew of disloyal men, led on hj 
the Senator from Oregon. 

"Mr. President" he exclaimed, in the course of the debate, 
"I was going on to remark to a general allusion to treason, 
that if individuals were pointed out to me, who were engaged 
in nightly conspiracies, in secret conclaves, and issuing ordei'S 
directing the capture of our forts, the taking of our custom 



20 

houses, I Avould show who were the traitors, and that being 
done, the persons pointed out to me as coming within the 
province and scope of the provision of the Constitution which 
I have ready were I the President of the United States I 
•would do as Thomas Jefferson did with Aaron Burr in 1806, 1 
would have them arrested, and if convicted, Avithin the 
meaning and scope of the Constitution, hy the Eternal God I 
ivovlcl execute them. Sir, treason must be punished. Its 
enormity, and the extent and depth of the offence must be made 
known. The time is not distant, if this government is preserved, 
its Constitution obeyed and its laws executed in every depart- 
ment, when something of this kind must be done." 

These words were spoken at a time when the men to whom 
the government had been intrusted were falling aAvay, — when 
treason was openly avowed in the midsc of the traitorous horde 
at Washington, and by one who was the native, resident, and 
representative of a Slave State, and bound by many personal 
considerations to go with those whom he so vehemently 
denounced. Such a man, fellow-citizens, may be trusted in 
the present emergency, and it is the manifest duty of all 
good citizens to sustain, by their influence, and to bring to his 
support all those influences which may aid in the execution of 
the high and important position which he has now assumed. 

Fellow-citizens, the honorable career of our President is 
ended, his task has been accomplished, his fame is secure. He 
has taken his allotted place by the side of Washington, 
Jackson and other great names that have gone before him. In 
the midst of his usefulness — clothed with the highest honors of 
a grateful nation — with a fame bounded only by the limits of 
his country's renown, — the hope of the patriot, the pride of 
the soldier, has been stricken doAvn by the foul hand of an 
assassin, and death followed it quickly, and all that was mortal 
of him Avho stood upon the loftiest summit of human greatness, 
sleeps in the silent tomb. 

Yes, unto its kindred dust, has been returned all that was 
mortal, but the highest example of his virtues will linger here 
through all our history. The soil of Illinois may claim as a 
sacred deposit, the ashes of "the illustrious dead, the nation — 
the world will have his fame as a beacon-light to his country. 

"Manly and most devoted was the love" 
"With which for her unwearidlj'^ he strove — 
No selfi-'h lust of Power, nor e'er of Fame 
Gave ardor to that pure and generous tiame." 



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